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essays: Carl Zimmer BEYOND THE IVORY TOWER: A Distant Mirror for the Brain Science 2004; 303: 43-44 [Summary] [Full text] [PDF]

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Primitive Knowledge

Robert W. Westafer   (30 July 2004)

Primitive Knowledge 30 July 2004
Robert W. Westafer, Physician Respond to this E-Letter: Re: Primitive Knowledge	I enjoyed Carl Zimmer’s comparative look at neuroscience in the 17th and 21st centuries, and agree with his admonition that we are “marveling at the brain while only beginning to comprehend it.” At least we have eliminated the heart, lungs, liver, spleen, and every other organ and body part, and recognize that it is our brain which is responsible for and orchestrates every aspect of our humanity. But the task of human neuroscience is truly daunting. 100 billion neurons supported by several times that number of glial cells are arranged in the configuration of a human brain, with its expanded cerebral cortex and large frontal lobes etc. About 3 lbs of living human brain tissue, which includes perhaps a quadrillion neuronal synapses, somehow can produce all the human abilities and attributes we describe with words such as mind, reasoning, mathematics, logic, personal identity, personality, learning, memory, language, music, art, love, hate, fear, etc. The list of words which can be used to describe various aspects of “normal” human brain function seems endless. What are the electromagnetic and molecular equivalents? What are all the physical and chemical changes that occur in brain tissue for the various brain phenomena to which these words pertain? What about for “abnormal” brain states in clinically ill individuals? Do we even understand the basics of nonhuman systems? What are the physical/chemical equivalents of “routine” brain functions in other species? How can nerve impulses arriving at the visual cortex of any species, which happens to have one, be transformed into cortical activity that the "owner" of that cortex and the rest of that brain perceives as vision? Or similarly with hearing, smell, taste, touch, etc.? Or how is the brain able to originate and bring about all the precise and complex commands to muscles to produce all the intricate motor movements that can occur? Hopefully, neuroscience will someday be much better able to help humans understand how these things happen, rather than just where a pet scan lights up or shuts down with a particular activity. In the absence of such an understanding, clinicians are faced with “sick brain” individuals whom they are trying to help. They stumble along as best they can, flooding the body and brain with one chemical or another, hoping for improvement, and trying to understand, if only primitively, some of what is being changed and why. Perhaps as ignorance awaits knowledge, at a minimum it’s time for every human to come to clearly understand and never lose sight of the fact that every aspect of his or her humanity is the result of the incredible function of the activity of the cells and tissues inside his or her skull.